Llanrumney family behind £3.8m cannabis gang jailed

Jamie Germaine (left) ran the drugs operation with his sons Shaquille (top right) and Tyrell (bottom right)

A family that headed a gang that sold an estimated £3.8m worth of drugs has been jailed.

Grandfather Jamie Germaine, 46, ran the operation from the family home in Llanrumney, Cardiff, with his sons Tyrell, 23, and Shaquille, 21.

All three were among six people jailed for conspiring to supply cannabis at Cardiff Crown Court.

Mr Germaine's partner Danielle Jeanne was handed a 24-month community order for possessing criminal property.

Another eight gang members, couriers and local dealers have also been sentenced.

They were caught following a seven-month investigation led by South Wales Police's organised crime unit that involved up to 180 officers between January and July last year.

Prosecutor Susan Ferrier said Jamie Germaine was head of the south Wales arm of an organised crime group run from the family home on Pepys Crescent.

"He was responsible for the buying, transportation and distribution of a large amount of cannabis to be sold on the streets of south Wales," she said.

"This was a very large scale operation that required more than one stream of supplier to keep up with demand."

The family home had a reinforced metal door and CCTV cameras

During the covert police operation, the court heard, the gang sold an estimated 100kg (220lb) of cannabis.

More than £600,000 in cash, some stored in suitcases, was seized at the property.

Jamie Germaine was sentenced to six years and nine months and Tyrell Germaine jailed for two years and five months.

Shaquille Germaine was sentenced to two years at a young offenders' institution.

Mrs Ferrier said their mother, Ms Jeanne, 40, benefitted from a "luxury lifestyle" from the sale of the drugs, including a £5,000 holiday to Dubai and designer clothes.

Germaine's "right-hand men" Qatip Puci, 33, of Cardiff Bay, and Danny Yau, 22, of Old St Mellons, were jailed for four years six months and three years respectively.

Qatip Puci, Jonathan Parsons and Danny Yau

Justin Smith, 45, of Llanrumney, was handed a 12-month suspended jail sentence and 130 hours of unpaid work.

All the defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class B drugs except Ayman Nadeem, 54, of Llanrumney, who was found guilty at trial.

He was sentenced to two years, suspended for 21 months, and 250 hours of community work.

At a second day of sentencing, Judge Timothy Petts, told a further five defendants: "You are all here because of Jamie Germaine who, with the help of others, ran a substantial cannabis supply operation with links to other organised crime gangs around the country.

"The amounts of money seized during the investigation shows how profitable a conspiracy it was."

Knives, cash, a crossbow and an air pistol were among items seized by police

John Actie, 57, of Butetown, was given a 12-month community order for possession of criminal property after he was caught carrying a laundry bag containing £218,000 in cash.

Daniel Cook, 34, of Royal Oak Drive, Newport, was handed a six-month suspended sentence after he was caught driving along the motorway in Staffordshire with a carrier bag filled with £120,000.

Jonathan Parsons, 33, of Turner Avenue South, Halifax, had £45,000 hidden in his car when arrested on Newport Road, Cardiff, on 19 January, 2018.

He was sentenced to three years and nine months for conspiracy to supply and possession with intent to supply class B drugs.

It took two days to sentence all 14 defendants at Cardiff Crown Court

Luchia Bartlett, 20, of Llanrumney, was given a 24-month community order for possession with intent to supply cannabis.

Tam Duong, 48, of Handsworth, Birmingham, was described as a "taxi driver" for one of the accused and given a nine-month suspended sentence for conspiracy to supply cannabis.

Kieran Freedman, 25, of Fairwater, Cardiff, pleaded guilty to two charges of possession with intent to supply drugs and given an 18-month suspended jail sentence and 200 hours of unpaid work.

Det Insp Sion Parker said: "The Germaine OCG are well-known in the Llanrumney area. We hope that the police intervention in relation to their criminality has had a positive impact within the community and continues to show South Wales Police's determination in targeting organised crime groups and keeping our communities safe."